I'm tired. Tired of gunfire breaking out in everyday places. Tired of makeshift memorials and community vigils. Tired of hollow words and empty gestures.
I'm tired of trying to calculate the likelihood of getting shot every time I head out the front door. Tired of watching one mass shooting fade from the headlines only to be replaced by another.
On Monday it was Louisville's turn in the headlines. Shortly before 9 am an employee walked into Old National Bank in downtown and opened fire with an AR-15, killing five and wounding several others before being killed in a shootout with police. See my earlier post for more on that.
Before us it'd been Nashville just a little ways down I-65. Purely coincidentally, the NRA is having their national convention just a little ways up I-65 in Indianapolis as I write. Meanwhile, Louisville is trying to figure out how to process, heal, and deal with the tragedy that unfolded on its doorstep.
On Wednesday a community vigil was held at the Muhammad Ali Center downtown. Before attending that I returned to Old National Bank to pay my respects and snap some photos of the makeshift memorial that has sprung up on its steps.
Hundreds came out for the vigil, to commemorate those lost and to hear from community and faith leaders.
Josh Barrick, 40
Deana Eckert, 57
Tommy Elliott, 63
Juliana Farmer, 45
Jim Tutt, 64
Chea’von Moore, 24 (Killed in an unrelated shooting downtown a couple hours later)
One of those slain, Tommy Elliott, was something of a kingmaker in Democratic politics in the area, all the politicians knew him personally and Governor Andy Beshear counted him as a close personal friend.
“While I’m not angry, I’m empty and I’m sad. “I just keep thinking that maybe we’ll wake up.”
It was powerful, emotional, each speaker in turn offered up words of support and remembrance and called for an end to this endless cycle of death.
Well aware that they were but the latest in a long line of people saying this, they called not only for an end but individual action as well.
One person who spoke was Whitney Austin, a Louisville native who survived being shot 12 times in a similar mass shooting at a Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati back in 2018.
Can you imagine going through that and then watching it happen again in your hometown?
For all that she struck a hopeful note and asked that we remember and support the victims in the days and years to come.
The vigil lasted for just over an hour, with lots of mingling, hugging, and crying afterwards.
Well, and a bit of cornering the mayor.
Not sure how to end this so I'll leave y'all with a question: What can one do as an individual to make the world a little less violent place?
Love one another and press for sensible gun laws. Ak's are weapons of war; no hunter needs those.
Not long after Kentucky became a state in 1792 they passed its first gun law, banning the concealed carrying of pistols. Nowadays anyone can carry concealed without a permit, I'm afraid we're running in the opposite direction from sensible.
No doubt, we need to get assault weapons off the streets. AK 47s are weapons of war they are killers. We just need sensible gun laws, background checks, red flag laws, and permits with proper training. Is that too much to ask?
I'm afraid that even if we could get that it'd still be a case of closing the barn door after the horse has done fled. We've already got more guns than people now and at this point you can 3D print ARs and AKs. I'll admit I'm a cynic and a pessimist, but as a practical matter I just don't see how you get assault weapons off the street. Even if the political will was there and the Supreme Court wasn't hostile, how do you close Pandora's box? I can think of nothing more likely to touch off a civil war than gun confiscation, and anything less isn't going to move the needle much. Then there's the whole other matter of handguns, which kill far more people than assault weapons.
Sensible gun laws would be nice, they would also be only a partial solution. In the likely event that we don't even get that, how do you build security in a nation awash in military-grade armament?
It is a bummer and I agree how can this problem get solved when there is no real will to do so. Our whole system is corrupt. It’s a damn shame.
It's a damn shame. You can say that again. As you said at the beginning, love one another is something we can do but there's gotta be more than that that we can do as individuals. I just can't think of what.
Just follow your moral compass, take care of your own and hope we can influence others in a positive way. Keep your circle tight.
A very sad, but wonderful post, your way to pay your respect.
As long as legislation is not changed, this is how it's going to be. As an individual, you can opt to vote those who are against distributing guns to everyone. I know it's a long battle as this is a huge business, but it's the only way.
I can't even begin to imagine how it feels like to be afraid to go out because you can be shot any moment. I don't want to live in such world. I hope people are going to wake up and do something about it.
Thanks.
I'm afraid we're in no danger of seeing serious changes to legislation. With how things are structured around here even voting isn't likely to change that. There's got to be more that we can do aside from voting but I sure can't think of it at the moment.
It's a nice bit of background stress, although at the same time you become somewhat numb to it. On one protest march I was on in 2020 gunfire rang out, I can just remember thinking "well, here we go" before we all did the bugout boogie.
I so hope you are right.
😢 That touched me deeply 🙏
Do I need weapons? A first aid kit? Tourniquet? It's like a checklist for heading out the door. In 2020, with the clashes with police and paramilitaries, it was so much more intense, felt like it was less a matter of if than when. I dodged one shooting that killed a photographer by only a couple hours (We left early), was present for another that wounded two cops, that summer did nothing to help that preception.
Gosh! It can't be good to live with such fears. You learn to cope, you become immune to it, and you don't realise the impact that environment has on you until you get away from it.
It was scary enough watching it from the television... because it was like what/ who/ where next...
Do you get the chance to escape for long holidays? Or are you into meditation or doing any grounding activities to keep you balanced? (if you know what I mean...:)
For real. You get used to it, almost numb to it but that doesn't go away even when the circumstances that caused it do. Talking to people who weren't there really opened my eyes to how different our perceptions of things were.
It was weird, at the time you were too busy being concerned with what to do next to be scared. That always came after, when you were trying to decompress and the full weight of what'd happened hit you. There was one march where we'd gotten word that a militia was waiting for us up ahead and they put out a call of "everyone with firearms to the front." At the time I was too worried about watching for potential threats to even think about the implications of that. Luckily it was bad info and nothing happened but jesusfuckingchrist.
I manage to make an escape every once in a while but it's never as often as one would like. Got a working one coming up this week :) Nature has always been my go to for grounding, mostly I hike and grow flowers.
It's a different life for sure! Just a matter of getting into action and doing what you gotta do at that moment... I agree that decompressing can be the hardest, and that's when being in nature is vital.
Hiking is awesome, and I'm happy that you have a break coming, even if it's still work.
and are you into growing/using herbs?
Work for me is taking photos and figuring out how to write something about them so it's nowhere near as onerous as it sounds.
I do a little bit with herbs, my partner does most of the growing/using herbs though. Going to be growing some stuff this year to make homemade fabric dyes but I'm not entirely sure what all else. Do you?
That's real fun, just dangerous locations.
I've never thought about making my fabric dyes. That's a brilliant idea. I do like growing herbs and do so even in limited spaces like when we were living on the narrowboat. However, we're temporarily staying with a friend, and I miss gardening.
My fav herbs to grow are rosemary, basil, oregano, and parsley. I always struggle with growing healthy coriander. I'm gonna look up the common herbs and colour for clothes dye😊
Sad to hear about this tragic news, I have not much knowledge about USA polices but it look like this LAW is really very strict.
It is very sad and tragic. Unfortunately when it comes to guns here, the law is anything but strict.
I cannot even imagine being shot
The mass shooting will make you think of some shut
Just stay safe
I got hit by a ricochet once, that was bad enough, would rather not think about what getting shot would feel like.
I'll do my best. You do the same!
It's sad. I read about this tragic news. It is hard to think about what happened and how it must feel for those directly affected and for their families. I'm not sure the gun laws in the USA, but here in Australia where I'm currently living, I'm told that gun purchase jut for hunting purpose, and the purchaser need to have a mental check up every 12 months.
It happens with such frequency here that you almost start to get used to it. Then it happens where you live and it hits differently, you can actually see and talk to people affected by it.
Galen and I have had a few discussions on the gun laws in Australia, there's such a vast difference. Here in Kentucky I could sell you a gun with nothing more than a handshake and it'd be perfectly legal. Aside from a few places like schools and government buildings you could then carry that gun anywhere, openly or concealed. The first time I bought a gun (when I was 18) they didn't even ask me my name, just told me the price and handed me the rifle when I handed them cash.